A Castleless Monday
by Netsrik1
Summary: Kate and Rick have made plans, but then Rick gets stuck in a meeting. Kate decides to go without him. A story for #CastleFanficMonday


_A/N: A story for the #CastleFanficMonday theme. I thought it would be fun that since there's no new Castle this Monday for us fans; Kate should have a Castleless Monday too. I hope you enjoy!_

**A Castleless Monday**

She misses him.

And married to the man or not, Kate Beckett HATES being needy. Castle just left for a simple (albeit all day long) meeting this morning, for hell's sake!

Of course, it really didn't help that this weekend was her first real time off in three weeks. Saturday, Sunday and Monday with just the two of them. She and Castle had made plans to be tourists in the city for the weekend. They'd already hit the museums Saturday, (Rick pretending to be Dr. Alan Grant at the Natural History Museum; he's such a kid) and then on Sunday went to a couple of plays on Broadway—matinee and evening performances. Today they were going to check out Liberty Island and tour the statue. Do all the things you never seem to get around to doing if you live there.

It was Castle's idea, of course.

Kate had thought the idea was a little odd, saying she could go to those places at any time; she didn't need a special weekend to be a "tourist in my hometown" using airquotes to emphasize the phrase.

Castle countered with "When was the last time you went to the Metropolitan Museum of Art?"

That shut her up, so she conceded the point, and they spent Friday evening perusing the travel brochure Castle had picked up last week while buying her coffee.

And then this morning Black Pawn called.

Sure, it's a long meeting, they said. All day, in fact. But they probably wouldn't have another for at least a week, they said.

Kate could really learn to hate Gina. One last day off—probably for a couple of weeks—without being on call, and she sabotages it.

So, what to do?

"Call Lanie," Castle told her as he kissed her goodbye. "Make a girls day of it."

Not a bad suggestion and Kate did call, but Perlmutter's kid (Perlmutter's got a kid?) was sick, and it was his turn to stay home, so Lanie was covering.

Kate let out a loud sigh.

Alexis was in classes all day and Martha was auditioning new students at the acting school, one young woman in particular showing real promise.

She slumped into the sofa, feeling down. She really didn't want to go without Castle…but she didn't want to mope around the loft, either.

So she made a decision.

'I'll go by myself' she mused. 'I'll take pictures along the way and text them to Castle.'

Liking the idea better the more she thought about it, Kate grabbed her laptop to check for times for the ferry and for tours of the island.

She also started editing the list of things to do some more, putting places such as Coney Island and the Empire State building on it for another day off. Plus all the other museums, restaurants, theatres and department stores in the city. Kate and Rick were going to have to actually take a week's vacation just to get the big sites in, let alone searching deeper into the city for fascinating stuff to see. But damn if it didn't sound like fun to try.

Finally, Kate closed the computer and stood up to grab her keys. It was still quite early; the car service picked Castle up at 6AM, and Kate hadn't felt like going back to bed alone.

Making sure her cell phone was charged, Kate took the subway to Battery Park to catch the ferry to Liberty Island.

On the way over to the island, she found herself people watching like Castle always did. She wasn't making up stories to fit them like he did, but she tried to figure out which ones were "real" tourists from out of town, or people like her just taking the day to explore. Noticing a group of school kids on a field trip, jumping around excitedly, she began to get a little giddy herself.

'Castle was right', she thought. 'It's been years since I've done any of this.'

Once the ferry docked, she joined a group of people surrounding a tour guide, and thoroughly enjoyed listening to the history and then climbing into the statue, taking pictures with her phone the entire time. After her tour ended, she took the ferry back over to Manhattan, enjoying the sea air, as well as the time alone. While she still missed Castle, she found that she still enjoyed being by herself with her own thoughts. She wouldn't want this to be an everyday thing, but when Rick's out of town, she knows she'll be okay. And that's a relief. The neediness really annoys her.

Once back in the city; Kate decided to have lunch in a small café she and Lanie would frequent on paperwork days at the precinct before Castle came along. She hadn't been in awhile and was pleased that the menu hadn't changed.

After ordering a half sandwich and an iced tea, Kate pulled her phone out of her pocket and texted Castle, hoping he was on a break from the meeting for a few minutes.

**_Guess what I've been doing?_** she wrote. She then sent him a selfie that she took on the ferry.

Her phone chimed almost immediately.

**_I'm intrigued_** was all he replied.

Kate grinned a little ruefully. He must not be free to have a conversation. Usually when they were apart he wouldn't stop texting, hardly waiting for her to reply. She didn't mind, it usually made her laugh. She sent him a picture of the Statue of Liberty.

**_This is what I'm doing_**she replied back. **_Sorry if I bothered you while you're working._**

The phone in her hand rang suddenly and she nearly dropped it.

Looking at the caller ID she saw that it was Castle.

"Hey, Babe," she answered.

"You could not possibly ever in a million years bother me, Detective," Castle rasped.

Kate laughed.

"You're usually a motor mouth when you text."

"Motor _mouth_?" he replied.

"Motor fingers?" she giggled, yes her mind went there.

"Hmmm," was all he said.

"I decided to take your advice—sort of—and did the tour."

"What do you mean, sort of?"

"Everyone was busy, so I went by myself."

"Really?"

"Yes really." Kate replied sardonically. "I'm a big girl, Castle; I can go where I want."

Castle immediately began to back track.

"Th-that's not what I meant," he stammered. "I just…isn't it boring by yourself?"

Kate laughed.

"Actually it's been fun. I added a few things to our list to do when we're together, but I've enjoyed myself today."

She could almost hear him pouting through the phone.

"Fun."

She grinned.

"Yes, fun. Not that it wouldn't be more fun if you were here, but hey, at least I didn't go see the dinosaurs without you."

"There is that…"

Kate's smile fell a little.

"I miss you. I am enjoying myself, but I don't like Castleless Mondays. Or any other Castleless day."

She swore she could feel Castle's smirk through the phone.

"I'll see you later, Kate. Have fun today. I love you."

"I love you, too, Babe. See you tonight."

_A/N: Thoughts?_


End file.
